LONDON (ANI) -- A new study
has revealed that people who work in front of a computer even just for
five hours a day run the risk of mental illness such as depression and
insomnia.

The study conducted on 25, 000 people has found that
those working for hours in front of the computer complained of feeling
depressed, anxious and reluctant to get up for work in the mornings.

The researchers said that many even reported problems
getting along with fellow- workers and added that they were plagued by
broken sleep and daytime fatigue, reports The Telegraph.

After studying the effects on health over a three-year
period in one of the biggest investigations into the hazards of computers
in the workplace, the experts are calling for employers to restrict time
spent at terminals.

"This result suggests the prevention of mental disorders
and sleep disorders and this requires the restriction of computer use to
less than five hours a day," said the lead researcher, Dr Tetsuya
Nakazawa, of Chiba University in Japan.

"Mental health and sleep-related symptoms were significantly
higher in the group having more than five hours of daily computer use,"
the researcher said.

For three years, researchers monitored changes in workers'
mental health and matched them up to time spent working at computers.

The results, published in the American Journal of Industrial
Medicine, showed one in four staff was tied to their terminals for five
or more hours a day. Once they crossed that threshold, the dangers of psychological
disorders setting in appeared to increase sharply.

So far most research has focused only on how computers
affect physical health. Sitting at terminals has been linked with repetitive
strain injury, headaches, eyestrain and back and shoulder pain.

But the latest study looked for psychological effects
by tracking thousands of office staff working for a large information technology
company in sales, customer services, accounting and planning.

British experts said that working alone at a computer
for hours on end could lead to a sense of isolation, even in a busy office.